1.

1 INTRODUCTION

POSITIONING

Positioning refers to the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is
distinguished from the products of the competitors. In order to position products or brands,
companies may emphasize the distinguishing features of their brand or they may try to create a
suitable image through the marketing mix. Once a brand has achieved a strong position, it can
become difficult to reposition it.

Positioning is one of the most powerful marketing concepts. Originally, positioning focused on
the product and with Ries and Trout grew to include building a product's reputation and ranking
among competitor's products. Schaefer and Kuehlwein extend the concept beyond material and
rational aspects to include 'meaning' carried by a brand's mission or myth. Primarily, positioning
is about "the place a brand occupies in the mind of its target audience". Positioning is now a
regular marketing activity or strategy. A national positioning strategy can often be used, or
modified slightly, as a tool to accommodate entering into foreign markets.

PROMOTION
In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform or
persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue. The aim of
promotion is to increase awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty. It is
one of the basic elements of the market mix, which includes the four P's ,i.e., Product, Price,
Place, Promotion.

Promotion is also one of the elements in the promotional mix or promotional plan. These
are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing publicity and may also
include event marketing, exhibitions and trade shows. A promotional plan specifies how much
attention to pay to each of the elements in the promotional mix, and what proportion of the
budget should be allocated to each element.

Promotion covers the methods of communication that a marketer uses to provide information
about its product. Information can be both verbal and visual.
There are three objectives of promotion. These are:

1. To present information to consumers and others.

2. To increase demand.
3. To differentiate a product.
The purpose of a promotion and thus its promotional plan can have a wide range, including: sales
increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive
retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.
1.1 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

 Is there a customer awareness and a felt but unrecognized need for a service of digital
storing of project portfolio among teachers and school principals
 What strategies are they now using to manage that need?
 What kind of schools feel the need for this and are there any different target segments among
these schools that can be meaningfully categorized
 What are the drivers for adoption among these customer segments identified or schools.
what will make these schools implement the App in their schools
 Can we meaningfully develop any positioning strategies apt for the identified target
segments
 What are the possible promotional strategies both online and off-line that we can try to
increase adoption of the App among the indentified target segments.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the project is to check the awareness of the need in schools and it’s various stake
holders: Principal and Teachers for a digital portfolio system.
1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 Research Approach : Data collection method.

 Research Instrument : The research instrument used for the purpose was Questionnaire
and Personal Interview.

Types of Data Sources

 Primary Data : The data which was collected using methods such as Questionnaire,
Observation and interview from school principals.
 Secondary Data : Data which was already prepared be previous researcher was collected
through various websites, text books etc

SAMPLING

 Sampling Design : The sampling method used was random sampling where data was
collected from different dealers situated at different areas so as to get maximum
information which is accurate and reliable.
 Sample Size : The sample size used for collecting data is 25schools.
 Field Area: The study was work was carried out in Hyderabad and boundaries of
Hyderabad.
1.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 Study was only limited to only few schools which can efford digital online portfolio
system.
 The study had a limited time period and it was not possible to meet principals of the
schools.
Chapter-2
Review of Literature

Market research started to be conceptualized and input into formal practice during the
1920’s, as an offshoot of the advertising boom of the golden age of radio in the united states.
Advertisers began to realize the significance of demographics revealed by sponsorship of
different radio programs.

Market research (also in some contexts known as industrial research ) is an organized effort
to gather information about target markets or customers. It is very important to
componenmet of business strategy. The term is commonly intercvhanged with marketing
research ; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing
research is concerned specifically about marketing processes, while market research is
concerned specifically with markets.

Market research is one the key factors used in maintaining competitiveness over competitors.
Market research provides important information to identify and analyse the market need,
market size and competition. Market-research techniques encompasses both qualitative
techniques such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnography, as well as quatitative
techniques such as customer survey, and analysis of secondary data.

Market research, which includes social and opinion research, is the systematic gathering and
interpretation of information about individuals or organization using statistical and analytical
methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision
making.

Market research is a way of getting an overview of consumer’s wants, needs and beliefs. It
can also involve discovering how they act. The research can be used to determine how a
product could be marketed. Peter Ducker believed market research to be the quintessence of
marketing. Market research is a way that producers and the market place study the consumer
and gather information about the consumer’s needs. There are two major types of market
research: primary research which is sub-divided into qualitative and quantitative research,
and secondary research.

Factors that can be investigated through market research include:

Market information
 Through market information one can know the prices of different commodities in the
market, as well as supply and demand situation. Market researchers have a wider role than
previously recognized by helping their clients to understand social, technical, and even legal
aspects of market.

Market segmentation

Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into sub groups with similar
motivations. It is widely used for segmenting on geographic differences, demographic
differences, and differences ( age, gender, ethnicity, etc) techno graphic differences,
psychographic differences, and differences in product use. For B2B segmentation firm
graphics is commonly used.

Market trends

Market trends are the upward or downward movement of a market, during a period of time.
Determining the market size may be more difficult if one is starting with a new innovation.
In this case, you will have to derive the figures from the number of potential customers, or
customer segments.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Promotion Definition:

Business promotion is communicating with the public in an attempt to influence them toward
buying your products and/or services. Generally we promote our businesses, our products, and
our services by trying to bring them to the forefront of our target audience's attention in the hope
that they will act as we want them to (i.e. see our product; want to buy our product). You might
promote your business, product or service in person through direct selling or in a retail store, via
the internet through a website or social media platform, electronically through email or text
messaging (SMS marketing), just to name a few of the more popular business communication
channels, but it's the intention to influence the consumer that defines promotion and sets it apart
from other communication with customers and/or clients.

The words promotion and advertising are often used interchangeably, but they're not the same
thing.

Advertising is one specific action you could take to promote your product or service. It's one
type of promotion. (See the examples of business promotion below for other types of promotion
that small businesses commonly use.)

Promotion, as a general term, includes all the ways available to make a product and/or service
known to and available to purchase by customers. Someone starting a business, for instance,
might ask themselves how they're going to promote their products or services; advertising would
be one of the ways although of course there are many others. An ad on a bus shelter is
promotion. So is a marketing campaign or offering a discounted price for a set amount of time.

The word promotion is also used specifically to refer to a particular activity that is intended to
promote the business, product or service. A store might advertise that it's having a big promotion
on certain items, for instance, or a business person may refer to an ad as a promotion. Businesses
also often create or buy promotional merchandise, products that often have been branded with a
company's logo, to give away at events such as trade shows or as thank yours to customers.

Promotion Definition: Examples

 Word of mouth is considered by many to be the most effective way to promote a

business, and best of all it is free. Studies have shown that over 90 percent of consumers
use recommendations from friends or family when choosing products or services.
Businesses that consistently go the extra mile to provide superior customer service rely
on word of mouth over other forms of promotion. Actively asking for referrals is one way
you can speed up the word of mouth process.
 A professionally-designed website can be an excellent promotion tool, allowing
businesses to inexpensively post up-to-date information on products and services. Most
businesses that do not normally promote through the web still have simple websites
containing basic information about the business (contact information, directions, etc.)

 Social media is a popular, inexpensive form of online business customers promotion.

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can be effective in reaching. If you are skilled with
taking video (or know someone who is) you can record video promotions of your
products or services and post them on YouTube. Influencer marketing is another
increasingly popular form of promotion through social media.

 The "Elevator Pitch" is used by business people to give a short two or three sentence
description of what their business does and how their products or services might benefit
the potential customer(s).
 MARKET PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

 These days consumers are constantly bombarded with promotional efforts from many
different channels. Marketers communicate with their audience in order to inform,
educate and persuade them to purchase their product or service. With that goal in mind,
there are several different promotional vehicles marketers can leverage to ensure their
message gets across to the consumer, one way or another. In many cases, a multi-channel
promotional effort is necessary to keep current in the minds of consumers.

Using Traditional Advertising

 Promoting products and services through mass media advertising on television, radio,
billboards, newspapers, magazines and other advertising vehicles is a great way to grab
your consumers' attention. Advertising professionals conduct detailed research on your
target audience, and build ads that specifically target their pain points, offering your
product or service as the solution. Often advertisements include testimonials from real
customers who have had success with your business, which further engages your
prospects.

Online Advertising and Social Media

 These days, it’s common to promote your business online, whether that is through banner
ads, keywords, social media ads or remarketing services. A significant benefit to online
advertising is that it’s easy to test campaigns and make changes in real time. Many
companies also use content marketing as a way to promote their products or services,
which involves developing compelling and unique content related to the problem your
business solves. It’s more of an indirect way to promote your business, rather than a hard
sell like an advertisement.
 Social media is a great way to propel your business, and it can also be free or relatively
inexpensive. Many businesses use social channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram to connect with their target audience on a more personal level. As a
general rule, around 90 percent of your social media content should be around informing
or educating your clients on something in your industry, while only 10 percent should be
about your product or service.

Utilizing Direct Mail

 Both snail mail and email marketing are effective ways to promote your business. Some
organizations purchase lists of names and addresses for this purpose, while others build
their lists from the ground up. It’s a great way to segment your audience and target them
individually by name, offering your solution to their unique problems.

Adopting Public Relations and Sponsorship

 It’s essential to develop a good relationship with the media in your industry to create
favorable publicity for your brand. Positive publicity helps a business to minimize
 negative situations or scandals and can increase consumer support during tense situations.
Issuing press releases when your company hits milestones or signs on major clients is a
common strategy for staying top-of-mind with the media.
 Some organizations use sponsorship as a way to gain good publicity for their company.
Your company can sponsor anything from local school fairs to sporting events, focusing
on areas where your target market may see your efforts the most.

Engaging in Personal Selling

 Personal selling involves a sales representative from your organization dealing directly
with a customer. This can be done on the phone, in person at your clients’ office or at a
trade show or event. You don’t need a large sales force to do any personal selling; even
doing it yourself is an option. The idea is just to connect with your customer on a one-to-
one level, identifying with their problem and offering your business as a viable solution.
It’s a great opportunity to develop meaningful and ongoing relationships with your clients

 Business cards are still one of the most commonly used forms of business promotion,
even in the digital age. In fact, in Asian countries exchanging business cards has become
a ritual. All types of business documents are used for promotional purposes as well;
letterheads and email signatures typically contain the company logo and promotional tag
line.

Positioning Definition

Brand positioning is an act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinct
place in the mind of the target market. The objective of positioning is to locate the brand into the
minds of stake

“positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinct place
in the targets minds”

MARKET POSITIONING STRATEGIES

Market Positioning refers to the ability to influence consumer perception regarding a brand
or product relative to competitors. The objective of market positioning is to establish the image
or identity of a brand or product so that consumers perceive it in a certain way.

For example:

 A handbag maker may position itself as a luxury status symbol

 A TV maker may position its TV as the most innovative and cutting-edge
  A fast-food restaurant chain may position itself as the provider of cheap meals

Types of Positioning Strategies

There are several types of positioning strategies. A few examples are positioning by:

 Product attributes and benefits: Associating your brand/product with certain

characteristics or with certain beneficial value
 Product price: Associating your brand/product with competitive pricing
 Product quality: Associating your brand/product with high quality
 Product use and application: Associating your brand/product with a specific use
 Competitors: Making consumers think that your brand/product is better than your
competitors

A Perceptual Map in Market Positioning

A perceptual map is used to show consumer perception of certain brands. The map allows you to
identify how competitors are positioned relative to you and identify opportunities in the market
place.

For example, consumers perception of price and quality of brands in the automobile industry are
mapped below:
Segmentation Definition

Market segmentation makes it easier for marketers to personalize their marketing campaigns.

By arranging their company’s target market into segmented groups, rather than targeting each
potential customer individually, marketers can be more efficient with their time, money, and
other resources than if they were targeting consumers on an individual level. Grouping similar
consumers together allows marketers to target specific audiences in a cost effective manner.

Market segmentation also reduces the risk of an unsuccessful or ineffective marketing campaign.
When marketers divide a market based on key characteristics and personalize their strategies
based on that information, there is a much higher chance of success than if they were to create a
generic campaign and try to implement it across all segments.

Niche marketing

Marketers can also us segmentation to prioritize their target audiences. If segmentation shows
that some consumers would be more likely to buy a product than others, marketers can better
 allocate their attention and resources. Niche Marketing is a very concentrated form of marketing.
Unlike some other forms of marketing that target a broad range or large group of consumers,
niche marketing involves targeting a very specific, well defined segment of the market.

Niche marketing often focuses on market segments that are poorly targeted, or not targeted at all.
Businesses that capitalize on the opportunities that lie in an untapped segment can open up the
doors for an influx of success. Marketers identify the niches to target by identifying the desires
and needs of consumers in specific segments. Efficiently tailoring a marketing campaign to a
niche audience is crucial.

Marketers that create a well-defined niche have the ability to create a very personalized
campaign with greater appeal (and if well-executed, greater ROI).

Providing goods and services to a market segment that has gone unserved reduces barriers to
entry, such as competition. Niches usually go un-targeted because smaller companies are
unaware that the niche exists, and larger companies don’t think that targeting a small niche is
worth their time. Companies that target these niche audiences will be endowed with first-mover
advantages that give the company better positioning against new competitors.

A segment is a cluster of accounts that think and act in similar way. A segment should consist of
accounts that behave similarly and in ways that are distinct from other segments. So, different
segments can receive products, services, and marketing support that are designed for their unique
needs and usage behavior.

Segments are identified by market variables, not customer classification criteria. For example, a
segment is not a sales territory or geographic region. Those are internal classification criteria.
Segments may be defined by frequency of use, nature of application, or other criteria relating
primarily to how the product or service is used.

Deriving meaningful segments is based on sound and accurate market research. Segments used
by one company in an industry may be very different from another company in the same
industry, since the criteria will include factors unique to each company’s operational and
business strategy. Once a segmentation scheme is developed, it will likely remain unchanged for
several years, perhaps even decades.

There are specific requirements needed for your company to create an accurate market
segmentation. These requirements include:

 Measurable and identifiable segments

 Consistency within the segments
 Variance or diversity between segments
 Accessible and actionable segments
 Segments large enough to be profitable
As an example, the table below is a possible market segmentation scheme of US grocery retailers
for packaging suppliers. The segment values drive the packaging needs, which in turn provide
direction and insight to the marketing message and solution options for a packaging supplier.
Each segment will require a tailored solution and message to optimize the value proposition.

Segment Examples Segment Values Packaging Needs

Natural Whole Foods, Fresh, Organic, Sustainable, Paper over

Grocers Fresh Market Sustainability, Natural Plastic, Compostable

Shopper Experience, Fresh, Multiple Sizes, High

High End Wegmans, Publix
Variety, Service Graphics, Shelf Appeal

Cost Driven, Less Variety,

Economy Food Lion, IGA Price, Limited Selection
Economy Look, Turns

Convenience 7-Eleven, Sheetz, Limited Selection, Small

Convenience, Speed
Stores Circle K Sizes, Distribution

Bulk Displays, Large Sizes,

Club Stores Sam’s, Costco Bulk, Value
Multi-packs

Benefits of Segmentation

Segmentation provides a plethora of distinct business advantages. First and foremost, it provides
a better and deeper understanding of customers, which provides direction and focus for both
sales and marketing activities. Targeting your sales and marketing efforts can increase
competitiveness and customer retention rates allowing for opportunities to increase pricing based
on derived value. Diversifying product portfolio based on customer segmentation and targeted
product development efforts also reduces economic risk.

Segmentation in B2B Markets

Segmentation is a challenging exercise, and there are several differentiating attributes of B2B
markets that have significant impact on the process of segmentation and the resulting
segmentation scheme.

1) B2B target populations are small. Typically, there are hundreds of potential customers in a
B2B segment, but sometimes they are as few as tens, which is smaller than a consumer market
segment. In addition, the segmentation exercise will rely heavily on the input of a small number
of key decision makers.

2) B2B decision-making is more complex. In the B2B market, there are multiple buying
influences, each with differing levels of influence and with different levels of expertise and
attachment to the purchase process. Therefore, segmentation may be targeted at the company or
individual level and may be defined by buying influence.

3) B2B buyers are economically motivated. While consumers often pay close attention to
brand messages and positioning, B2B buyers are buying a necessary item with a known or
calculable value. Segmentation based on needs is more evident and practical in a B2B
environment.

4) B2B products are usually complex. This is a major reason why the B2B buying process is
also complex. In many cases, the buyer knows as much as the vendor about a product,
particularly the potential value to be derived from the product. Given this complexity, large
accounts may be a segment unto themselves. Smaller accounts may be grouped on their product
usage or means of deriving value (e.g. as a component of a larger product, by usage frequency or
occasion, by value relative to the final product, etc.).

5) B2B customers often have very close relationships with their vendors. For larger ticket
items, the sales process is centered around personal interaction and communication. The act and
process of switching vendors is complicated by the strengths of these relationships, so the nature
and scope of desired relationships must be understood as part of the segmentation process.
Understanding the development and maintenance of customer loyalty is key to developing a
good segmentation strategy.

6) B2B markets have fewer needs-based segments. A typical consumer market has more
needs-based segments. In comparison, a typical B2B study results in 3 or 4 segments. Because
B2B buyers are more rational and consistent, discovering segments is often much more
challenging than in a consumer market. Segmentation schemes are often centered around
functions (e.g. technical, operations, purchasing), buying influence (e.g. price, technical, user),
firmographics (e.g. location, size), or nature of relationship (e.g. tenure, strategic versus
transactional) as opposed to lifestyle or psychographics.

A good segmentation scheme will be characterized by four basic criteria. First, companies within
a segment will be similar in selected characteristics. Second, each segment will be different from
others in meaningful, measurable ways. Also, each segment should be of sufficient size. And
lastly, a company should be easily placed into a specific segment.

MARKET SEGMENTATION STRATEGIES

The concept of market segmentation defines three strategic options of marketing: these are as
follows:

 Undifferentiated marketing strategy

 Differentiated marketing strategy
 Concentrated marketing strategy

Undifferentiated marketing strategy

Under this marketing strategy, the marketing management focuses on the common needs of the
people and designs its goods and services to satisfy the maximum number of customers. It is
neither grouping of customers nor market segmentation. It relies on mass production, mass
advertising and mass distribution. This strategy does not make any difference among the
customers of the product of the enterprise. The principle of same brand, same prize, same
product, same packaging, same media, same marketing program and same advertising is
followed for all the customers and whole market, this strategy is also known as aggregation
strategy. Usually, the product-oriented firms adopt this strategy

Differentiated marketing strategy

Under this marketing strategy, the grouping of customers is done on the basis of their common
needs and their desires viz. region, income, age, education, personality, profession, religion etc.
The whole market is divided into various segments. Here different products are manufactured for
different market segments. Such marketing strategy increases sales and profits of the firm,
attracts large number of customers from all corners of the society and offers higher customer
satisfaction by producing goods and services according to the needs and desires of the consumer.
Thus, this type of consumer-oriented strategy is also known as market segmentation or market
segregation strategy.

Concentrated marketing strategy

Under this marketing strategy the marketing mangaer concentrates on one particular segment
instead of various segments. It follows one product and one segment principle and creates brand
monopoly. According to phillip kotler, “instead of going after a small share of a large market, the
firm goes after a large of one or a few sub markets. But another way instead of spreading itself
thin in many parts of the market, it concentrates its forces to gain a good market position in few
areas.” This strategy is best suitable in case when new products are introduced in the market as
all marketing efforts are concentrated on one market segment, it provides best possible
satisfaction to the consumers.

Importance of market segmentation

The market segmentation strategy is a consumer-oriented philosophy. It benefits both the

marketers and the consumers. The following points explain the importance of the market
segmentation.
 Helpful in competition
 Provides opportunities to expand market
 To discover marketing opportunity
 Knowledge of customer needs
 Adjustment in products
 Increase in sales volume
 Adopt sound and effective marketing program
 Effective advertising appeal
 Increases marketing efficiency